Lewd act: Teacher can settle

A TEACHER was granted permission by the High Court to compound an alleged offence of insulting the modesty of a 15-year-old girl.

The 39-year-old allegedly inserted his hand in the front of his shorts in February last year in the presence of the teenager at the staircase of a block of flats.

Overriding the decision of the district court not to allow the offence to be settled between the two parties, Justice Lee Seiu Kin, who heard the appeal on Friday, observed that the act, although lewd, was 'not particularly serious'.

'He did not touch her. He did not expose himself,' the judge said.

Also noting that the man was not the girl's teacher as believed earlier, Justice Lee returned the matter to the district court for it to be compounded.

As the girl was a minor at the time of the alleged offence, no detail can be published that could lead to her identity.

Source: ST